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Helping Hands
Plot Helping out is great and all, but what if despite your best efforts, you just make things worse? Or even worse, what if things just stay the same? Characters River O'Lake: Owned by Riliane de Lucifen Escarlate "Scarlet" Esposa: Owned by Cerisefan03 Chapter one: Scarlet Scarlet wasn't doing anything. Okay, so she was lost in thought when she probably should have been paying attention to the teacher, but still, she didn't deserve this. She was thinking about her plan, mentally going over (for like the tenth time) all the things she needed to do/not do to survive that day. So she wasn't really focusing on the lecture. Noticing this, one of the students snuck behind her, moved about two inches away from her ear and yelled: "BOO!" Scarlet jumped about a mile, and ended up falling out of her desk, sprawled on the floor. She lifted one arm to shield her face as she blurted: "Desculpe, desculpe, por favor nao me mate!" The class laughed, both at what had happened and her reaction to it. After all they had no idea what she was babbling, to them it probably sounded like gibberish. Someone held a hand out to her. It was Rosa, one of the few students who did have some idea of what she had said. When Scarlet stood up, almost falling over on top of Rosa in the process, her rescuer whispered: "No one's going to kill you Scarlet." Scarlet nodded and tried to sit back down at her desk. She ended up slipping and bonking her head on the side of the desk, much to renewed laughter throughout the classroom. Hot tears burned at her eyes and she stood up, rubbing the side of her head as she ran out of the room. "Miss Esposa!" The teacher yelled after her. She had made a fool of herself in the first class of the day! How perfect! She was quite sure that every student in the room thought she was the biggest idiot they had ever seen. Little did she know, one student didn't laugh at all, and instead watched her retreating form, worry written all over her face. Chapter two: River River watched where the girl had run even as class continued. She needed help, it was plain to see that that girl, River wasn't 100 percent sure of her name, needed some kind of help. And River was just the person for the job! First things first, she had to find out more about her. All she knew was that her last name was Esposa. She supposed that she could hunt the poor girl down and ask, but River discarded that idea just as quickly as she thought of it. That was a bad idea on a number of levels. So it was either spying or asking her friend. When class ended, River made her way to the one person who had helped Miss Esposa. "Hey, you probably don't know me but..." She began. "River O'Lake." The girl interrupted without blinking. "Yes, how did you...?" River was confused. "I'm Rosa Testa, I know a lot about a lot of people. So what's up?" Rosa asked. "That girl you helped, what's her name?" Rosa tensed. "Why, why do you want to know?" She demanded, her protective side surfacing. River smiled slightly. Apparently she wasn't the only one who wanted to protect Miss Esposa. This was just increasing her need to help her out. "I just want to help her." River reassured her. Rosa visibly relaxed. "Esposa. Escarlate Esposa. You can call her Scarlet. Daughter of the Prince's Wife from my story, the maiden with the rose on her forehead." She reported. "Tell me more." River begged. "Clumsy. Awkward. But she's sweet. Loves slushies. More comfortable speaking in Portuguese than she is with speaking English." Rosa said. "Anything else?" River pressed on. "Martial artist." Rosa said. "How can she be clumsy and be a martial artist?" River questioned in disbelief. "You got me. But she's good at it. Very good at it." Rosa said. The warning bell rang. "I got to get to class. That all you need to know?" Rosa asked. "Yeah. Thanks Rosa." River said. As the pair went their separate ways, Rosa called out: " Você é uma pessoa boa, por favor, continue assim." River just smiled and nodded. She had no idea what that meant, but she hoped it was good. Chapter three: Scarlet Scarlet came back for her next class. She didn't really want to, she wanted to spend the whole day in the Enchanted Forest, but she knew she'd have to return eventually. So her next class began. As she passed a couple of students, one made a snarky comment about "ugly stupid oafs" to the other, and they snickered. Scarlet tried not to react, though she sniffed. Her face was red and tear-stained as she had spent the last class crying, but she did look pretty good. When she walked to the seats, she was surprised to see her usual spot, in the very back row, was taken by someone. The only place where she could sit was a desk at the end of the very first row. A desk that looked awfully clean and new, as opposed to her other one, which was old and rough. She shrugged and placed her stuff down. As she tried to sit down, the desk was so slick that she slid off the chair onto the ground. She heard muffled laughter, but the teacher silenced them. "Are you okay Miss Esposa?" She asked as Scarlet slowly sat back on her chair with a mute nod. The teacher looked pleased and continued on with the lesson. Scarlet wasn't sure, but she thought that she could hear what sounded like someone slapping their forehead, and a muffled groan. When she turned however, all the rest of the class was earnestly paying attention to the teacher, so she shrugged at off as just her hearing things. That was until something plasticy hit the back of her head, causing her to cry out softly in surprise. The teacher sent her a warning glare, causing her to sink back down in her seat until she looked away. Scarlet leaned over and picked up what had hit her. A pack of travel sized wipes. She looked around confused, before taking one out and using it to wipe her face. Chapter four: River River wanted to yank her hair out. She was so sure that would have worked. Giving Scarlet the desk she usually sat at, in the front, where she didn't have to walk past anyone, and it was new and clean, she had polished it herself. She had sat at Scarlet's old desk, and she had thought that was that. But of course it didn't help. At least the wipes were a good idea. River sighed as she took out a little notepad. Written in her best handwriting was Ways to help Scarlet The only thing written was what she had already done and had apparently not worked. Taking her pen, she crossed out that plan in one thick inky line. Taking a deep breath, River smiled. The day was still young. She could come up with new ideas during Study Ball. And she did. She had observed Scarlet in the other classes the pair had together, which were three others. In one, Scarlet had been called on to answer a question and had tried, but what came out had been Portuguese instead of English. So in order to avoid that situation in the future, River decided that she would write down the English answers to the questions and make sure to get them to Scarlet. Their desks were pretty close to one another, so that shouldn't have been to hard. In the second class, no problems had arisen until near the end. Scarlet had stood up to gather her things, but somehow or other lost her footing and skidded across the floor a few feet. People laughed, and even the teacher had trouble keeping a straight face. River's plan was to make sure that there was absolutely nothing around Scarlet's desk at any point during the class. Simple. The third class, nothing big happened. Two girls each on the other side of Scarlet wanted her to pass a note. Scarlet had shook her head and tried to pay attention, but the girls kept bugging her. Finally she stood upright and said: "Nao!" really, really loudly. So the solution was simple, sit on one side of Scarlet. What could go wrong? Chapter five: Scarlet The next day passed and had been pretty weird for Scarlet, even by her standards. In one class, she had been asked a question and was going to answer it, when a white slip of paper was tossed to her. Before she could read it, the teacher had caught it and had scolded her in front of the class. In another class, she found her usual desk cleaned, polished, and devoid of any clutter. She sat down and was unaware that said desk was still wet, until she stood up and polish clung to her now wet leggings. Finally, the last class of the day, she found herself sitting next to a girl she didn't really recognize. She tried to focus, but the girl watched her intently the whole time. Finally Scarlet said: "Stop staring at me you fluencia!" "I'm trying to look out for you! I'm trying to be helpful and I'm trying to stop your life from being a complete and awkward mess! You should be thanking me!" The girl said back, raising her volume a little bit. Scarlet flushed. "ajudar por uma questao de ajudar, não por uma questão de agradecimento." She scolded, before standing up and running out of the room. She could go to the enchanted forest, which is where she usually went when her day turned sour, but she needed a pick me up. So slushy shop it was. The people knew her there, they knew what she liked and when she liked it, so she could do limited talking and get what she needed. She understood wanting to help someone like her, but not helping just because they wanted thanks! the girl was misguided. Scarlet almost wished she never had even tried to help her. Chapter six: River River sighed. She had tried her best to help Scarlet and nothing worked! And then she tried to get her to tank her but Scarlet had just babbled off a stream of what River assumed was Portuguese before leaving. Now that River was thinking about it, she felt bad. Maybe she could have worded it a little bit differently. As class was dismissed, she thought of all the Portuguese she had heard since first seeing Escarlate Esposa. Maybe she should translate it. Typing the words in on her phone, she discovered what Rosa and Scarlet had been saying. Desculpe Desculpe por favor nao me mate!= Sorry, sorry, please don't kill me! That made River feel even sorrier for Scarlet, since that was the first thing out of her mouth after being surprised. Você é uma pessoa boa, por favor, continue assim= Your a good person, please stay that way. This discovery made River flush in shame as she realized she wasn't really a good person. not in Scarlet's eyes anyway. Fluencia= creep Understandable. Maybe staring at Scarlet wasn't the best thing to do. ajudar por uma questao de ajudar, não por uma questão de agradecimento= help for the sake of helping, not for the sake of thanks. River let out a small meep as she came to a harsh realization. Maybe it had been about helping Scarlet at the beginning, but it had turned into her wanting people to know that she had managed to turn Scarlet's life around and wanting Scarlet to thank her as she realized that River O'Lake was the only person who could do it! "i have to fix this." She mumbled, standing up. Where would Scarlet be? Her dorm? Probably not, after what just happened, if the roles were reversed, River would want to leave the school for a while. What had Rosa told her about Scarlet? Martial artist? Maybe....wait! She loves slushies! Scarlet would probably be at the slushy shop! Chapter seven: River and Scarlet Scarlet entered the slushy shop. "Hey if it isn't Scarlet! Good day usual?" One of the workers asked as soon as they saw her enter. She muttered an answer. "Bad day usual. Got it. One kiwi mango coming right up." He said as he set to work. Luckily, since school had literally just ended, the shop was pretty much empty. Scarlet didn't have to risk running into people that had seen what had unfolded. The bell chimed, signaling a customer entering. Scarlet turned around to see who it was, then huffed in annoyance, turning back around. River sighed. She probably deserved that. But she wasn't giving up! She sat down next to Scarlet, and looked up at the menu. "What's good here?" She asked. Scarlet looked up. "Why here?" She asked. "Why am i here?" River said, earning a nod from Scarlet. "I want a slushy." "Not me?" Scarlet asked. River's brow furrowed. "To do with me." Scarlet clarified. "Okay, you got me. I'm here to apologize." River admitted. That was not the answer Scarlet had been expecting. "What?" "I said I'm here to apologize. You were right. I did lose sight of what was really important. But believe it or not, I started this thing wanting to help you. And only you." River admitted. Scarlet laughed. "Forgiven." She reassured her. She gestured to herself. "Lost cause." "You aren't a lost cause Scarlet. I think, I think I was just trying too much too fast and expecting a complete turn around right away. I will still help you you know." River said. "Only now I won't act like I'm on a deadline or try to be all subtle." Scarlet smiled. "Kiwi Mango." She said. "Kiwi mango it is." River said as she ordered. Scarlet surprised River by giving her a hug. "Thank." "You're welcome." River said, hugging her back.Category:Cerisefan03's Fanfiction Category:Original Character Fanfiction